2014 P&G Gymnastics Championships - Sr. Women - Day 1 (NBCSN Broadcast)

one year ago simone biles was not supposed to become america's national champion but that's what she became and coupled that with a world championship gold medal now to her the olympics are everything and rio's just two years away so that's a worry for another day tonight it's about enjoying being number one in the world at the u.s national championships get the gold medals ready unbelievable nbc and nbcsn welcome you to the 2014 png gymnastics championships presented by cover girl and gillette pittsburgh in western pennsylvania where they love their pirates and their steelers and their pittsburgh penguins as well and that's where we find ourselves tonight at the console energy center in pittsburgh pa for the 2014 png gymnastics championships simone biles at the top of the ladder in women's gymnastics right now can she stay at this level for two years that's going to be the ultimate question and we've got the perfect people to talk about it hi everybody i'm al troutwig along with tim daggett olympic gold medalist and hall of famer we're joined by nastya lucan olympic gold medalist and tomorrow hall of famer congratulations what does this mean to you thank you it you know it's a little crazy it seems like i was just competing at the olympics yesterday and i guess it's been six years already yes it has so it's it's quite the honor i have to say and i'm very excited about it that's him for the last three summer olympics things have been pretty dreamy for gymnastics on both sides men's and women's but we're in this olympic cycle what does that mean well what it really means and this is very important some of the very best gymnasts in the world and the united states they lack one vital statistic they are not old enough to compete at the olympic games so two years out from 2012 your fierce five looked like this only ali raisman was in this competition as a senior you look at kyla ross right there she won the junior competition and that little girl gabby douglas she was fourth in the juniors not old enough to compete at the senior level obviously she went on to win the olympic gold in the all-around okay so that begs the question narcia simone biles is going to endure something that you did will it test every ounce of her soul it definitely will and you know i was there i won in 2006 and two years before the olympic games and i do have to say there were days that i came home in tears not wanting to go back to the gym but if you can pull it together and keep pushing through i will tell you it is 100 worth it so simone biles as you can see with a lot of smiles her best friend kyla ross is part of the competition she returns after the london olympics and we will begin to answer what is the question for simone biles to answer as she defends the u.s national championship in pittsburgh pennsylvania you're watching the 2014 png championships in pittsburgh pennsylvania we're just about set for competition there are only 13 women here eight of those will compete in the all-around but there are always specialists needed especially on an apparatus as tough as the uneven bars could madison desch be part of that for the united states well absolutely she is going to do the all around here but as you said uneven bars historically an event where the usa they haven't struggled but they just haven't been as dominant as the other events and you know she is coming back from actually two knee surgeries before that marta crowley told me that she looked at her peak tricky combination right there go back to the low bar beautiful work now this is really difficult watch this release nicely done a little bit over on that we're going to be talking about handstands you got to hit those handstands it's a full twisting double oh that was well that was close to the bar very close but a very decent start for maddie dash and just coming back out here like you said after the injuries i think she'll definitely take that wow that was close though she almost clipped her toes we'll always talk a lot about the olympics but this competition is significant for the world championships that are coming up in october absolutely it's part of the selection process you see she flies from low bar to high bar this is beautiful right here it's called a pax alto done very nicely and here is another major release most difficult one in her routine and she does it actually better than i've seen her do and watch this dismount you can see how close she was to the bar a double back with a full twist really just hangs on can't even see from that angle too well but from a different angle and you saw she barely landed at the end of that match oh wow look at that she should have been scary yeah she was very important that she kept her legs really bent at that point because she had clipped her toes for sure we'll get her score in a moment over now to the always challenging michaela beam we have a new michaela to talk about michaela skinner and she is what you'd call the daredevil of women's gymnastics at this point in time if she's been around a long time everybody in the gymnastics world knows this young lady she has done some of the most difficult acrobatic elements that are being done in the world this combination is one of them right here watch this a back handspring into a backflip with a full twist super hard great save you'll also see a lot of connections on the balance beam and that was a great connection that you actually get extra bonus for if you do three elements in a row one of the areas that michaela freely admits to is she says she has to get a little bit cleaner she needs to work on some of the artistic components she has all the difficulty she just needs to maybe put it in a little prettier package a little bit off on that i'll tell you what though i hit set on beam first rotation that's a big deal round off double back right here great job great job for michaela skinner so now we'll wait on her tally we can go back and tell you madison desch received a 14.05 and tim maybe you can explain the system we've come up with in trying to understand these often complicated scores well it's all about deductions and you see that right there 1.3 deductions or less that's a pretty good exercise if you're in the 1.4 to 1.9 it's a little shaky and you do not want to see deductions of 2.0 or more that's the execution score you see it right there the deductions 1.75 is what she got off so she lost too many points to be good so in terms of the overall competition yellow be cautious about where you stand as a result of that score cautious a little bit now brenda dowell from odessa missouri what do you like about her gymnastics this bar routine right here if she can hit it she's definitely been struggling a little bit we've watched her do it all week and i don't know if i saw one hit routine with the whole entire routine that she has planned but if she can do it it is amazing yeah just prior to this she had a brutal warm up mistake after mistake i talked to her coach al fong just a couple of minutes ago and i said can she put this together and he said yep when the lights come on she'll rise to the occasion right here is the trickiest fantastic now she was supposed to connect this not a big deal but this is where it gets very tricky once again two releases in a row right here and she did it a little bit of form on it marta corolli said she has got to prove to me that she can still hang with the best and she absolutely unequivocally did it right there that is some top gymnastics and nasty when you have tough gymnastics that mardi gras loves to see how do you not lose your concentration when you get through the real tough stuff you know i think what she did just proves that she belongs on that world team because when she needed to hit that routine she did like i said we watched him training all week and this combination is one of the toughest combinations in the world right now it's wild it's like a gymnast in a blender i'll tell ya very very difficult getting ready for the dismount nice position in the air very upright wow that i tell you that was as good as we have seen her do in a long long time michaela skinner 14.35 so three tenths better than dish it's amazing to watch these lives unfold you know down the road some of these are going to be teammates hugging in an entirely different scenario and from california felicia hanno actually her teammate is one of the fierce five that we were talking about earlier kyla ross she said i saw tv one day and gymnastics when i was on and i told my mom i really want to do that and she said i stuck with it ever since nastia talk about those chalk lines because i swear i see someone draw a dollar sign on the left side that might be simone it is simone yeah i saw her coach put that up there yeah they use those lines to tell them where to start a tumbling pass or where their where they want their feet to be mostly for the dismount like simone does one of the most difficult tumbling combinations into you know it's interesting the marks i i keep thinking about it because i was like could you see those when you're actually on the beam and some of these is even where you start on a mount or something so when you're on the balance beam you don't see the lines unless they are drawn again you know across the actual part where you're flipping dismount here double back in a pike position that was nice had some bobbles in that routine every time you see a balanced check it's a deduction and we have our best score so far that is a green good to go 15.4 for brenna dowell and that score on uneven bars is huge right there that is huge next is madison caution from dallas texas she's in your dad's shoe right she sure is yeah and you know she's had a few injuries here and there over the years but this is where she really excels on the uneven bars right here in plano texas and of course nasty his dad is valerie luken who's here watching and i'll tell you she is just absolutely gorgeous on this event the lines her body positions the open shoulder it's just exquisite and she is light she just flies big release right here nicely done now check out the height her body gets in the air on this release great injured herself at the qualifying competition had to pull out of the secret classic but a beautiful exercise beautiful she's actually believe it or not she's actually capable of doing it a little cleaner on the balance beam 13.75 well this next one should be a familiar face kyla ross the youngest member of the fierce fab five the olympic gold medal is with the rest of the team and she turned in something that team usa really needed at the time on the balance beam and this was of course the team finals balance beam nothing more pressure back than that and it was kerpau right there i'll tell you she is about as consistent a player as you are ever going to see not just in gymnastics but in any sport and then with most of the fat five gone the team went to antwerp in the world championships and she became really great friends with simone biles and helped that team win yet another gold medal and i think this is the moment where kyla ross really shined when she was out there on the floor won the silver medal in the all-around competition at the world championships just behind teammate simone biles and you could just tell she felt comfortable she felt confident and she owned this competition three silver medals for kyla really was a tremendous accomplishment different is her hanging around till rio compared to simone biles or is it that much different you know what nico not that much different besides the fact that she's been there she's done that she knows exactly what she personally needs to do to make it on an olympic team we will see her performance in a moment on the beam but right now we go to alyssa bauman coaching 15.25 on the uneven bars another good score now here's another gymnast from woga gymnastics what does your dad think of alexa so alyssa actually had a younger sister rachel bauman who was supposed to compete in the junior division she just recently got her last week and had to pull out but you know what i love about alyssa is she's great on bars but she where she really excels is on the balance beam and she started at woga when she was three years old i remember her as a little baby in the mommy and me classes think of the gymnasts she has seen see the feet were a little bit apart and she missed that handstand therefore missing the connection to this element oh geez another form break she just looks a little bit skittish same release we just saw nicely done you know a great routine she has a very good skill set not as good form as madison that you know we saw just prior to her but i think this is just the start of her elite career so right next to sweet 66 named after the great mario lemieux who essentially built this building is kylo ross now 17. 17 and a veteran yeah absolutely to get to two olympics her birthday timed out just right and you know she's such a team player and marta says that she is so helpful with the little ones as marta says she is so serious she went to the olympics she won a gold medal i asked her a couple of weeks ago what pushes her to go on to another olympic games to endure all the hard work all the pain and she said you know i've had team success but i would love to have some olympic individual success that's what's fueling this beautiful tumbling run right here very nice so uh well she punched her ticket to her first olympic games because of her consistency and dependability on this event and on the uneven bars and this is status quo for kyla ross she is tremendous kyla actually didn't look very happy here but watch this just so beautiful great lines toes and she's a little bit off there but she doesn't even show it and a big dismount with a great finish and this is something that i love about kyla is the gymnastics has stayed the same but what has gone up is that confidence and that's exactly what she needs as we go to these next few years as we lead on to rio i'll have kylo score in a moment but first alyssa baumann on the uneven bars of 14.0 and again that's a cautionary tale as far as the overall standings are concerned by the way we're not all gymnastics tonight we're going to have footage of nastia luke and throwing out the first pitch at the pirates game last night that's coming up i don't know if that's my proudest moment maggie nichols is next someone asked her what her secret to success was she said i failed over and over and over again in my life and that's why i succeed she was third all around at the last qualifying meet the classic right behind simone and kyla another nice release lot going on at these championships though obviously you want to be a national champion a pant oh a little bit of a struggle on that too close to the bar a little too rotated that's how she's a fighter though she she really she oftentimes makes things that you just don't think she's gonna be able to pull out yeah and you know she said last year after the 2012 championships she left those nationals and said i need to change something and she comes in here this year and has a real shot at being on that podium i think tim as you were saying they're also selecting the pan american team they are leaving on a bus to toronto from here on sunday with seven girls so we're getting through the first rotation and that is a huge number on the balance beam for kyla ross the 17 year old quote unquote veteran comes through again on this night it's for herself still to come simone biles the defending national champion in pittsburgh in just a moment we'll see defending national champion simone biles on night one of two in this competition i can tell you that maggie nichols got a 14.45 on the uneven bars now last year right before the national championship simone biles went to an event in chicago and had pretty much a disaster but it was not the way she's capable of performing so she came to the national championships and won it was a great show and then she went to the world championships nastia how different do you think she felt walking into a big arena as the united states champion you know i think that title definitely gave her a huge boost of confidence she really felt like she belonged there and she came away with the world all-around title mom and dad embracing on that day they're back in the building tonight tim it was a strong powerful performance i don't remember feeling close no it wasn't close she completely dominated and at this point in time she's capable of completely dominating this championship and the world her mom and dad right there that is nelly and ronald biles simone switching coaches moving around a lot she has settled in ohio and now is training at aim athletics the parents the family are breaking ground on world gymnastics center which will be her gym and the family's gym watch this though really difficult two and a half times around that's an e this combination coming up right here she's going to do three elements in a row a little bit off but what i love about simone is when i watch on the balancing it looks like she's doing a little shaky here i was just about to say like she was on the floor exercise but maybe getting little nerves get to her just a little bit a little bit tentative i think but this the hardest dismount being done in the world she does it better than anyone full twisting double thank you guys and watch this two and a half times around on one foot so difficult and this three combinations go back handspring to a back layout an immediate back layout which is extremely difficult and she has a little bubble on the landing but shows control watch this though so much power a full twisting double somersault like i said the hardest dismount that only a handful of gymnasts in the world do but she does it far superior to anybody in the world that series though i always wake on it but you don't need to train i know exactly that's right so that what they're talking about there is that series that nastia described those three in a row that back handspring to layout step up layout step out here's ashton locklear from north carolina where does she fit in and if she fits in anywhere it is right here on the uneven bars just a few weeks ago at the qualifying event in chicago she actually came away with the title on the uneven bars i think she has the highest score this year in the world on uneven bars and she beautiful lines nice handstand positions and you gotta fly on uneven bars beautiful back down once again everything in this routine is just back to back to back she's a gamer i'll tell you big release here again beautiful she was great in chicago she looked really good here but this was awesome and you know that is the lady that you want to impress marta caroli right there i asked her about ashton and she said undoubtedly she could be a member of both the pan am and the world championship team she's got to show consistency though that's always what margaret is saying a huge number for simone biles bobbles included 15.7 that's a green all the way when we come back we'll see what the standings are and andrea joyce joins us to talk about olympic gold medalist carly patterson we're in pittsburgh pennsylvania back at the 2014 png gymnastics championships an event like this is sometimes confusing and that's where we are right now you have some gymnasts like ashton locklear who are only competing in two events tonight right now she's got the best score out of anybody which is of note because it's better than simone biles simone biles has bigger things to think about and i think the bigger headline is that she is where she is absolutely now one of the things they want to do tonight is honor what happened in 2004 that was a very important time in the history of usa gymnastics sydney was a bit of a problem for team usa and they needed to restore respectability enter marta caroli and enter the then it girl carly patterson from the gym known as woga in plano texas and she delivered with all the pressure of being the id girl and won the gold medal that so many thought was her destiny she's here tonight with andrea joyce al hard to believe that it was 10 years ago does it seem like it was that long ago carly it really doesn't i can't believe how fast time flies by these days it seemed like from january to august to get to the olympics took forever and i'd prove myself over and over and over again and then now the olympics is over and now we're 10 years gone how did that happen i don't know but what was your most vivid memory of athens obviously winning the gold medal but i think after it and getting running up to my coach and realizing seeing my name go to that first spot realizing we had both done it we both accomplished our ultimate he lifted you was my favorite moment i think yes let me ask you you tweeted earlier this week that that moment changed your life forever more specifically other than the obvious how did it change you as a person you know i don't think it changed me as a person i think it was able to help me grow to you know to be the person i am today from working so hard and all the lessons that my coaches taught me and having a good family around me i think i've been able to stay very grounded because at home i'm just regular carly i am no one special and then i get to come and kind of have the best of both worlds and still be recognized and honored for you know what i did in the sport and in my career so it's great well you do have a special place in history though you really started a string of victories first you then nastia then gabby what does it mean to you to be part of that you know i'm so proud to kind of be the leader of that threesome right there it hadn't been done in so long before mary lou and to be to be able to be that first person to kind of give gymnastics a resurgence again and and get little gymnasts to believe that they could win an olympic gold medal too if they just kept working hard and seeing that goal in that dream it's an honor for me to know that i was in that spot and i think i was placed there for a reason so well it was fun for all of us to watch we'll talk to you again soon thank you andrea all right back to you al where does the time go you heard nastia say it before and get ready nasty to say it for about a million more times in your life credit where credit is due that coach was evgeni marchenko did a tremendous job with carly and as she said like every great coach athlete relationship you either do it together or you don't succeed and actually her second coach who you see standing in the back natasha who now coaches madison on the balance beam madison kosher really big nicely done that skills called on arabian you see that left ankle is taped up she injured it at the classic competition a couple of weeks ago had to pull out of the competition so this event balance beam will be her last event of the night but she is a true all-around gymnast so fairly new dismount for her too round off double pike flip biggest challenge on that foot right here a little bit under on that landing and when you don't rotate enough like that really sends a shock right to that area that's what she did in chicago she landed short didn't have enough rotation and my guess is she's trying to act like that didn't hurt but it did yeah i could definitely see that on her face she was she was in a little bit of pain and you know sometimes when you're trying to save one foot you overcompensate and you know might hurt the other foot so it's always better to just go hard here's feliciano there's well a solid routine she's got some big tumbling starts out with that double layout very very difficult a nice job moments ago 14.7 and we're still figuring out what these numbers are going to be like tonight melissa baumann 10th place after the first rotation she's from your dad's gym have you spoken to her a lot not you you know i i grew up i grew up watching her grow up she's been at the gym like tim said since she was three years old so i've been able to see her come through the classes and the pre-teams and now here she is at the national championships what kind of things would a gymnast like that ask you you know she's the kind that's a little bit shy so she doesn't really like to ask too many questions but i think she's you know very obviously very excited to be here and she's just progressed so much in the past two years one of my favorites to watch on the balance beam as well so i thought she was a little bit tentative on her first event the uneven bars but this has been great she hasn't done all of the elements together connected like she's capable of doing but a great routine so far ending with the round off to a two and a half twist i think nasty you did this didn't you sure did we even shared a balance beam at the gym got that around a little bit low has to bend her knees to make it around but that was that was really a great routine right there finally final cecile landy and laurent two of her coaches stealing olympian herself one time for the french national team felicia careful 13.5 on the floor come on kylie you got it that is where we're going next to kyla ross i asked her how can you be so calm what is what is it that you do do you do anything differently and she says it's just it's my personality i am calm and relaxed you know to be able to do that on the biggest stages that is a quality that you dream about as a coach very difficult to learn absolutely that is a new pass for her she competed it successfully at the classic that you just never see from kylo ren you never see a large error like that you know when i watched her do this past all weekend training and she was either over rotating or under rotating like she just did and it looked like she thought she had it it was a little short so so oh that is i can't tell you how unusual that is well the rest of it was pretty gorgeous so this is her new tumbling pass and it's harder because she does this flip right here without touching her hands she just doesn't get enough rotation and really she had enough height she just opened her body a little bit too soon like we said we watched it in training and she used to do this without the whip she did a regular back handspring before which made it a lot easier so she has you know raised her difficulty level to be competitive with the rest of the world but you know unfortunately she's going to have some mistakes along the way looked like she was so close to pulling that skill off her teammate and they will always have london together kyla ross and here is gabby douglas with andrew hi maggie all right well al up until a couple of months ago we thought that gabby might actually be competing in these national championships what happened i know unfortunately i'm not competing at this one and i would love to be but um i got put into a very difficult situation in my gymnastics career where i had to move coaches and switch gyms so um you know i move coaches and switch gyms but i'm really loving ohio and yeah i'm supposed to be competing but i'm not so so where are you i mean you've got a couple more years but where are you on your comeback trail compared to the gymnast you were in london how far along are you um i would have to say i'm pretty far along i would have to say i'm stronger this time than i was before in london i just feel like i've gotten you know a little bit more mature and just my body's grown so that made it a lot better time frame when do you expect to be competing um probably next year definitely next year we have seen so many young women try to make that second olympic team unsuccessfully and every single one of them talks about how extremely difficult it is has it been harder than you thought so far not really it hasn't been too difficult for me god has blessed me with this amazing you know talent and just to do a second time so i'm really excited the key is you have to ease yourself into it you can't just force it all in your body because your body won't take it so you have to ease yourself and just go lighter practices and then gradually get harder and moving forward what do you think the biggest challenge will be will it be mental or physical um i don't know i really i'm feeling pretty good physically and mentally so we'll see you look pretty happy oh yeah i am all right it looks like it's fun it is okay all right good luck we'll see you soon al okay andrea we are having this conversation a lot tonight because it is a conversation for a lot of gymnasts in this room so what's your take on what gabby douglas is going through right now you know it's definitely difficult i think especially after you win an olympic all-around gold and so many opportunities come your way and you kind of want to be all over the place you want to enjoy them but then at the same time you're kind of left with this feeling that that passion and that love for the sport is still there and you're dying to get back on the balance beam and you you want to be here competing so i definitely feel for her okay tim an olympic gold medal you certainly know that feeling and then sometimes you're used to everything that comes with it but certainly everything that came your way in 1984 was a lot different because of the way the world is right now in 2012 in some ways maybe it wasn't everything she dreamed of your take well i'll tell you first first of all gabby douglas has the body she you know i thought that her best gymnastics could definitely come after those olympic games she had more in her tank but reality is that this is a very hard game and if you don't put in the work if she doesn't do everything she did to get to 2012 she will not be in rio for 2016. okay let's stick with 2014 right now kyla ross gets a you know she gets it a little bit 13.75 and that is a cautious tale here tonight in pittsburgh we'll be back for the png championships simone biles has a national championship to defend and this is step two for her tonight she was in second place after the first rotation and second to a gymnast who's not doing everything so she essentially is the de facto leader and with this routine right here she can just blast her way even further to the top she won the all-around goal as we said at the world championships in 2013 she did a heck of a lot more she also won balance beam and she said it would be so cool if i had a move named after me and you'll see it in this routine it's in her second pass it's called abiles and not only is that tumbling past one of the hardest in the world this entire routine might be the hardest floor teen in the world right now i'm a little embarrassed when i see her tumbling to be honest so watch this two flips laid out and then she'll scoot a half twist right at the end oh oh this third pass coming up is a double out with which is what most chips do on their very first tumbling pass and she has the endurance and strength to do it right here fantastic oh wow nobody not one gymnast is even remotely in that league in the entire world and you know what drives people crazy what drives the other gymnasts crazy even though they'd love to see her is how easy she makes it look it's just ridiculous so we talked about that biles it's named after her first person to do it in a world championships two flips totally straight and what sets it apart that half twist right at the end blind landing and yeah it's awesome thanks i can only and she's your leader madison desch on the balance beam excuse me that's uh ashton locklear on the beat she is in first place as we said but she this will be her last event she's only doing two events she has had a serious back injury that took her out of training for 12 weeks she's not even training florivald was in a hard shell back brace for eight weeks but really for her this is all about proving herself to marta she certainly did it on balance be on uneven bars but to be a part of that world team which is the ultimate goal and as you can see she's definitely not as confident on the balance beam like she was on the uneven bars just moments ago and although there is the possibility that they could take her purely for her uneven bars exercise unquestionably what they're looking for is people who can contribute not just on one event but on all four not just who travels but you gotta also have people in the tank that can replace somebody if an injury occurs and an athlete goes down you know so probably not the best routine that she could have done her start values a little bit lower but i think her main goal was to stay on that balance beam and like you said tim she did prove herself that she possibly can be counted on more than just the uneven bars good job no it was good and i don't think that marta is really all that happy about that she's happy she stayed on and didn't have a major fall but that's not a routine that she wants to put up in a world championships it just it it wasn't hard enough and it uh you know she's got some errors in there but she didn't sink her ship that's for sure because she uh hit it out of the park on that first routine on uneven bars but it is amazing marta crowley has the biggest aura in women's gymnastics simone biles gets highly rewarded again on the floor exercise 15.65 it's hard to see any deductions i talked about her being that daredevil jim nast she like simone has a jam-packed routine she actually does a skill in her first tumbling pass she'll do the same thing simone did but she'll try to do it in a laid out position so she won't bend her knees she was the first gymnast to do this in the world but she didn't do it in an international competition she said that bugs her a little bit it's actually called the moors after a great canadian gymnast right here oh and she's out of bounds and i believe that both of her feet were out so that'll be three tenths of a point time so and even with that out of bounds i call that a world-class routine super difficult music had a little bit of a james bond feel to it she kept up with it on the balance beam 14.5 for locklear but right now the story in pittsburgh is simone biles is in exactly the position she would want to be in to defend her national championship and set herselves up for the world championships in october halfway point on night one and two nights of competition for the 2014 png championships simone biles is the leader and by our recent calculation by a point al tradwick back with tim daggett and nasty luke and andrea joyce here tonight as well we've seen since the london olympics in 2012 the gymnasts are more than just gymnasts and to celebrate a recent event in chicago for example michaela moroney famous for the look in london decided to do things a little bit differently incorporating gymnastics with a little chicago white sox pitching very unique and she delivered now last night at the pittsburgh pirates atlanta braves game not to be outdone nastia luken went right for it here's your pitch what an arm and a strike it was it wasn't as creative no it was i just wanted to get it to the catcher you weren't nervous about that i was so nervous i tried to practice backstage i hit the ceiling it was it was a huge fail so then i i decided that practice probably doesn't make perfect for me and be small all right let's look at your form and as you critique gymnastics now you can critique baseball what do you think so i was a little bit in the grass but i do have to admit i have to say that you saved face for texas oh gosh yeah i got so many tweets and messages not to be like miss texas so i was happy just to get it to the catcher well you know because you didn't do it like michaela the internet didn't explode today and maybe that's a good thing that's okay yes right better safe than sorry you made the pitch complete we'll take a break here in pittsburgh simone biles is your leader she moves to rotation three and we move to the second half of tonight's competition now that nastya lukens baseball career is over it's back to gymnastics after the first two rotations simone biles has the lead now ashton locklear and koshin are not doing the all-around so they will not be in every event meaning these scores will make more sense in a few minutes so that means michaela skinner right now is in second place kyla ross is actually in fifth place and what kyla does so well here is she survives with so little deductions on this event and she'll do it again another very clean a slide back on the landing but and she is capable of doing a harder vault but this year we have seen her do the double twist and like you said her form a little bit of a hot back on the landing but that form is what kyla ross's gymnastics is all about to the floor exercise and alyssa bowman she's in third she's knocking on the door well that's another solid routine right there it really is and we have to remember that they're also selecting like we said at the beginning of the show they're selecting the pan american team that will be leaving on sunday from here and this is one of her big goals is to have that assignment it's going to get worse that's big time green right there only seven and a half tenths of execution deductions and she had to switch leos after warm-up other michaela that was big news right there we had the big leo switch wow thank you taranjo she's actually roommates with a little girl who's not old enough and actually is injured bailey key who many consider the best junior in the country maybe the world so what you'll see with when we get a score for this is it's going to be a lot lower what we saw from kyla she did a vault that had a maximum score of 15.8 this score vault has a maximum score of 15.0 someone like simone biles actually has the ability to score a 16.3 it was relatively clean and not bad and a tremendous coach right there a world champion herself kim zanescal there is the other part of the team kim's husband chris burdette 14.45 and low deductions that's a green maggie nichols so with the tune up being in the all-around tim she essentially is in fourth place so yes she's right near the podium absolutely she was third at that qualifying meet the classic just a few weeks ago so another very solid routine for maggie nichols on floor exercise and you see that pink leo she told us she got pink braces before this competition to match her leo i always feel bad for the vaulters they're 10 feet in front of us so all i'm going to say is here's simone biles she was second in the world in 2013 to michaela maroney she does the same first ball that michaela did at the olympics super difficult and she is so powerful oh that was great she could fly over a basketball hoop if she wanted to right unbelievable just huge power and she almost just rocks this landing just a little bit under and the smallest of hops but that is going to be a huge huge number nasty as we look at that she's preparing to do a second ball wide she is so at a world championships for the event finals you have to do two vaults from different families which means at the entry of the vault they have to be different so we will see a completely different vault from her right here she's having a great night 15.9 on the first half four tenths in execution error that is gigantic that is the all-around score that she will calculate in this is just for the individual event title another phenomenal ball you can easily add a few more twists together start the olympics now she's in great position and has only one more event to go in our coverage here on nbcsn of the 2014 png championships in pittsburgh pennsylvania thank you simone biles getting a 15.9 and then a 15.1 on her second vault meanwhile on the vault michaela skinner will also do two vaults and she's been waiting a while for the green flag and actually she is in good standings in the all around but actually the degree of difficulty on these two if she completes it is higher than what we saw from simone biles her eyes are as blue as that runway and a good job this fall actually starts out at a 16.4 the one thing she does though she she kind of rushes the take off you're gonna see she does a half turn onto the horse very difficult but watch she hardly gets that second hand down and so that decreases the rise off of the table and she'll incur a deduction for that but like i said a tenth higher in maximum potential score than we just saw from simone tell me about that little chat after a vault that she didn't seem happy about do they work do they help does she not listen no you definitely listen but i think it's more about forgetting about that first fault and moving on to the second ball because like we said it is a completely different vault you don't do two of the same vaults so she really needs to clear her head and move on right now and so i'm not exactly sure if she's going to do what's called the aminar the same thing that we saw from simone biles she in the last meet only did a double twist she told me that she wanted to do the two and a half and she just does a double fall again which i think is a good safe maneuver for her she's doing well in the all-around she did it cleanly you know she has had some injuries as i said a little bit earlier way back in 2012 not way back but she was second all-around first on balance beam at this national championships in the junior division she's been plagued by some injuries steps out of bounds one foot though so it'll only be a tenth of a point and the yellow flag once again lifted out of bounds oh and once again you know al she started great on an even bar struggled on her second event balance beam and she just was kind of walking all over the floor and it's not just the step out of bounds you get a deduction for going out but that brings us to the end of the third rotation and simone biles is exactly where she started at the top after three rotations in pittsburgh pennsylvania simone biles is in first place trying to defend a national championship and it is not even close her lead right now over skinner in second place 2.65 points that's not a lead that's a chasm so nasty looking what have you learned about simone biles that you may not have known and you can say nothing pretty much nothing you know she came in here confident and she has remained confident through the competition but one of my favorite moments when we talked to her earlier this week was i said what is your goal coming in and she said i want to make the national team she had and i said come on there has to be something a little bit more and she goes you know what my mom always told me growing up is to be the best simone that i can be and i think she's proving that she's being the best moan she can be today okay tim dagger talk to me about the depth of this competition how could it have been different well yeah actually team usa is a little bit thin at this point in time and a little girl that was just tremendous rachel gowey right there getting carried off the floor just the other day she landed a balance beam dismount and took it hard she fractured her ankle in two spots she's going to have surgery and that is a really it's a devastating injury for team usa because she was capable of contributing on all four events for team usa simone biles has been a portrait of confidence tonight in pittsburgh and she has one more rotation to go nbcsn's coverage of the 2014 p g championships continues fourth and final rotation to determine night one and set up saturday night on nbc for the 2014 pga championships and we're set to go on the vault currently in fourth and a very nice ball for her a little bit over rotated has to hop back but lots of power good stuff alyssa almond so from melissa bauman to now if i was an athlete in this competition i want to hear you both i would basically say okay there's simone biles and then there's everybody else and i want to be the highest that i can among everybody else absolutely and even though kyla ross is in third behind both simone and michaela i would say that she is in the driver's seat to move ahead of michaela it's a little bit cleaner beautiful transition big release right here she's in this position because of an uncharacteristic error on floor exercise what i love about kyla ross is every skill she does she lands perfectly in the handstand with no deductions oh boy and i'll tell you that that was close if that knee touched the ground i don't think it did but if it had it would have been a major deduction so a couple of hiccups for the olympic and world championship medalist and she looks angry to me just not enough rotation and really has to pike her body down and almost no that knee does hit the ground that that could be five tenths they could even if they call that a fall which i don't think they should that could be a point off you know as upset as she is to after today's competition she has a little bit of time to get some more strength and confidence towards the world championships that are going to be at the beginning of october so not the best performance today but she has a little bit of time baumann's fault score 14.8 and maggie nichols she can make a move here with a big vault nicely done i tell you she is quite a little competitor she is something else her coaches say give her give her a contest there with sarah jinzy one of her coaches give her a contest in the gym and she is fired up she does not want to lose and she fights for this landing and after she placed third at that qualifying event in chicago that we all keep talking about she says she finally feels like she's in the mix especially after simone and kyla took those first and seconds now i said that they could take a point i don't think they will at all well they did some damage almost two points in deduction right there and uh they probably did take the full point for the fall maggie nichols 15.05 that moves her ahead of kylo ross so that was a significant minute or two here on night one macy toronto one of our coaches chris burdette said it is all about heart for her everything is a struggle for her but she is such a fighter oh and that handstand right there that's going to hurt her a little bit but everything else pretty darn good world champion kim zomesco coaches this girl as well who would have also been in the mix for certain for the podium at the national championships and be a world team contender injured not able to compete here now we'll see if simone biles can just put a slam dunk on the night i mean a lead of 2.65 after three rotations is amazing she can fall twice wow which doesn't happen often but this is definitely simone's least best event you know you can't say it's weak because at the last world championships she actually made event finals almost got a medal on this event but she does not like the uneven bars and she says see these teeth i like them she said she'd like to take a chainsaw to every set of uneven bars in the world was hoping when she got to be an elite that she could be just like alicia sacrimoni who was a great three event gymnast for the united states who did not do bars who only did florex balton balance beam but simone you just got too darn good got yourself a world all-around title her biggest test comes right here connected here down to the low bar what's this to her feet right here and there's your leader day one by a mile mom and dad liked it what changes do you think that they've seen in their little girl compared to a year ago when she didn't have a couple of championships you know what it's amazing both her parents and simone has said you know everybody thought that being a world champion would change me but i don't feel any different at all thank you good luck you got it just like practice ticket good job macy thank you she is such a cheerleader and she just said i can't and i won't turn it off you know she says there are a lot of gymnasts that have come before that are very stoic that's just not me and it won't work nice release to from high to low and ends her routine with a full twisting double back and this is the exact this is the night she was hoping for she was hoping to come out here and like every gymnast says they want to hit four routines and she told us that and she did she didn't just do that she just beat everybody like we said by a mile he was imitating how i blow up my grips whenever i'm out there oh are they done with the ball oh is maddie and asher involved oh true 14. maddie five five that's green very low deduction so nasty let's go out on a huge limb here and say she's going to the pan am games no she she won't go to the pan am games she had marta carolee she's got too much experience already she said both her and kyla they're taking her out of the mix okay so she'll go to the world between now and hopefully rio in the olympic games would she take any significant amount of time off or not nope not a single day maybe the sunday traveling back home at least that's what i would have done right back in the gym there's a selection camp coming up you have to prove your readiness once again then she has to go to the world championships and try to defend that title kayla skinner needs a 14.05 for second place to close out the night that's a doable score but she needs to be clean and right there wow that was that was great she was able to hold on wasn't in that handstand and just like simone she's a very powerful gymnast so if there's one event where she's not as strong it's definitely right here on the uneven bars not a bad routine and i'll tell you i think that she did a heck of a lot here today to win over marta and get that trip to the pan am games gain a little bit more international experience and certainly she did a solid for the world selection as well full twisting double you want to stick the landing obviously but if you're a female gymnast and your goal is a world championships there's one person that you want to please and marta usually gives up a few hints okay what do you think pretty readable too yes absolutely well there's a lot of relief in the room that night one is just about done on nika you got it we will wrap this up in pittsburgh simone biles a runaway leader with one more night of competition to go back in pittsburgh after this back in pittsburgh pennsylvania and still to come a salute to the men's and women's teams that meddled in 2004 in athens some great memories there but here tonight the memory is halfway built for simone biles trying to defend last year's national championship maggie nichols and alyssa bauman are right behind her in second and third but the gap is huge the battle for the podium on the second night is going to be very important and with the national champion here's andrea joyce with simone biles and very very impressive outing today tonight did you expect to dominate like this on night one um no i didn't i just came in here prepared and do what i do in training and just go out there and have fun and the results show i guess so how different is it for you this year last year you entered the national championships as an unknown nobody knew who you were and here you are back as defending national champion how different is it um i guess i don't really think about it unless you say it but other than that if i think about it it's just like i guess it's really exciting to be back out here and it's just an honor but you don't feel any extra pressure of the expectations knowing that you have that title and you've got a target on your back um i do feel a little bit more pressure but i think that comes from myself i put pressure on myself but other than that i try not to let it get to me well it's pretty hard not to notice though because i mean when everyone's checking into the hotel they get these room keys that have your picture on them what went through your mind when you saw this um i was in the car and somebody like screenshotted it to me and i actually freaked out like oh my gosh that's so cool but it's a little bit weird do you want this one or do you have one for a souvenir can i have that one yes you can definitely have it last question as you get ready for the second night of competition does this change your strategy at all because you have such a big lead or do you go in with the same same idea and we going with the same idea yes all right well good luck the rest of the way and congratulations thank you al she is cool under pressure okay you gold medal hot shots did you ever have hotel keys with your picture on them i did not tim well i they didn't have those kind of keys out it was like metal okay so what's monte carolli thinking here tonight because there's a huge opportunity in october and i want to know from you who has stepped up with this huge opportunity well two well obviously simone no question about that but it really wasn't any question at all maggie nichols and alyssa bauman have done themselves a big solid here at these championships both probably qualifying if they keep it going for the pan am games and being really right in there for the world championship selection they did a great job both of them and nastia did anything change as far as the status of kylo ross goes you know i don't think so i think if there was to have any mistake here it's the best place to have it you know the world championships are the beginning of october and i think to get these little um wobbles and falls out of the way was a good place to have it but she still is calm even under these falls her face is calm and she can move on and continue competing like kyla ross like she always does now let's talk about 2004 because when we come back there'll be a salute to that it's hard to believe like it is for you to be in the hall of fame coming up in just a day but for athens to be 10 years away is remarkable it is unbelievable but what a championships it was uh for the united states the first time that they went uh silver and silver men's and women's and of course the two all-around champions carly patterson and paul hamm it was a tremendous championship yeah i mean i remember watching carly as a teammate and friend we grew up training together so it was great to see her and that's what really made kind of me believe and like we heard her say you know she kind of started that legacy after mary lou and then i went on and then of course gabby douglas just a few years ago went on to win that gold medal so we're hoping for another one to add well we've already talked to gabby and carly patterson but what does everybody look like 10 years after their medals in athens greece we'll have that when we come back to pittsburgh pennsylvania and we certainly look forward to having you join us on saturday night to see if simone biles can do what it looks as though she can do with confidence and ease and let us go back to back in the united states gymnastics scene one of the greats to ever play the game of hockey mario lemieux honored outside the console energy center honored inside of tonight simone biles of the united states 2004 athens a return to the birthplace of the modern olympics and the birth of a new american gymnastics security first time in 20 years that the usa men and usa women's gymnastics squads both earned team medals here to celebrate their 10-year anniversary of that accomplishment please welcome from the 2004 usa men's olympic silver medal team jason gatson morgan hogg brett mcclure lane wilson guard young and the man who also earned silver on high bar after earning gold in the all-around paul huh and now the 2004 usa women's olympic silver medal team mohini bahardwan courtney mccool the bronze medalist not on even boards courtney coopets the silver medalist on vault anya hatch the silver medalist on uneven bars taryn humphrey and the woman who earns silver on balance beam after securing a gold medal in the all-around carly patterson ladies and gentlemen your 2004 olympic artistic gymnastics team silver medalist the men and women of team usa great anticipation for rio great memories of athens the anya hatch story should have been a movie maybe it still will be one day escaping from cuba representing the united states and in about eight seconds of competition winning an olympic silver medal on your hatch you can look it up coming up next on nbcsn it's major league soccer fc dallas hosts real salt lake the winner tonight will be in first place in the west following that it's the men's all-around from the png championships presented by cover girl and gillette see if sam akula can defend his all-around title and we'll see if simone biles can do the same on saturday night on nbc for tim daggett nastia luken and andrea joyce i'm al tralwick saying good night from pittsburgh pennsylvania you

Channel: USA Gymnastics

Views: 3,248,315

Keywords: gymnastics

Id: MVLZz2J6tcE

Length: 89min 27sec (5367 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 10 2014